PhD student Mu-Han Chen of the Davies Lab and PhD student Ninon Martinez of the Finnerty Lab were both recently awarded Graduate Research Fellowships by the International Coral Reef Society. This award provides funding to aid in the cost of research.
 Mu-Han studies how diel thermal variability (DTV) influences energy allocation in the Caribbean coral Siderastrea siderea. Building on her group’s year-long transplant experiments in the Bocas del Toro Reef Complex (BTRC), Panamá, she will compare skeletal growth and fecundity between low- and high-DTV reefs to identify trade-offs between coral growth and reproduction. Combined with physiological and gene expression data, her work will provide a comprehensive view of how environmental variability shapes coral fitness and resilience in a warming ocean. |
 Ninon will seek to understand how local adaptation of corals across different marine habitats may contribute to coral survival, offering critical insights into the potential for coral populations to persist in a changing world. |
Congratulations, Mu-Han and Ninon!